a case study of DONOR REGENERATION with the FUE-L Technique by Dr B. MOUSSEIGNE

[Mathieu]

Dear HRN members & users,

 

I'll quickly introduce Dr Mousseigne, as he is not yet a familiar figure of online international forums:

Dr Mousseigne is 53yo and was taught FUE as soon as 2002-2003; for the record, his teacher (and still friend) also taught FUE to Dr Lorenzo of Madrid.

Dr Mousseigne has been practicing exclusively FUE since then, first in Paris, and now both in Paris & London.

For FUE procedures, he uses a 0.7-0.8mm -manual- punch range, with a preference for the 0.75mm punch, as the grafts then match neatly the 0.8mm choi implanters (he indeed uses this device to implant grafts on the recipient area).

Dr Mousseigne, because many of his patients are in the public eye, is used not to shave down the whole head for the op, and he instead shaves strips/patches, which still allow to harvest 1500 FU per procedure (and up to 2000 FU when the patient has good donor density and long hair to cover things up).

 

I'll gladly share with you proof of effective donor regeneration. Please bear in mind this is just a "teaser", and that we'll provide higher quality documentation in the future (both for medical & commercial purpose).

That being said, I think the following documents should suffice to support our main claim: we do achieve steady donor regeneration thanks to our FUE-L technique. More details about this new technique will be revealed soon, so please be patient and don't misjudge us for not disclosing everything immediately

 

 

 

About the patient:

 

- 30 yo male

- No medicinal treatment (e.g. finasteride, minoxidil, etc.)

- No previous surgical experience

- Diffuse pattern of hairloss with a slightly receding hairline (NWD2).

- Hair characteristics: black colour, under-average caliber, wavy texture (but regular subcutaneous refractive angles).

- No specific skin condition

 

Dr Mousseigne qualifies him as a fairly average patient; his thin hair caliber being compensated by a high skin/hair contrast.

 

 

 

About the procedure:

 

this test was performed in early April 2013. Other similar tests have been done earlier this year and in late 2012.

 

I decided to analyze and document a restricted perimeter of the whole test area, which included 100 Follicular Units (FU) before the extractions began. I thought this rather large sample would give everybody here a good idea of our technique's efficiency.

 

Three different steps of the procedure have been precisely analyzed:

- pre-op

- immediately post-op

- 12 days post-op

 

Each of these steps comes with an annotated macro picture, a chart, and synthetic comments.

 

If you deem it necessary, I will also be able to provide pictures from the +4 day & +6 day marks. I'll just need a little additional time to annotate and analyze them.

 

 

 

Once again, this study case works as a proof for donor regeneration after FU's extractions. We are not publishing pictures of the recipient area, because it would be too early to notice signs of regrowth anyway. Soon we'll share complete study cases with high standard documentation (including macro polarized shots & overall professional settings).

Thanks for both your interest and understanding.

 

 

 

PRE-OP

 

 

 

The analyzed perimeter includes 100 Follicular Units (FU). In the chart below, each FU and its type (1 hair, 2 hairs, 3 hairs, 4 hairs) are listed as accurately as the image allowed me to be.

 

 

h = hair(s)

FU = Follicular Unit

 

 

Follicular Units' breakdown:

FU – 1 hair = 17% (17)

FU – 2 hairs = 68% (68)

FU – 3 hairs = 13% (13)

FU – 4 hairs = 2% (2)

 

These 100 Follicular Units (FU) contain a total of 200 hairs (h).

That gives a h/FU ratio of 2.0, which matches average caucasian characteristics.

 

 

 

 

IMMEDIATELY POST-OP

 

The picture was taken immediately after the Follicular Units' extraction.

For further details, please check out the chart below.

 

 

 

h = hair(s)

FU = Follicular Unit

/ = the FU was left untouched

 

 

Over a total of 100 Follicular Units within the test area:

-60 were harvested

-40 were left untouched

 

Which equals a graft harvesting as high as 60% of all the FU within the test area.

 

With traditional FUE (# FUE-L), it is recommended not to harvest more than 30% of FU of a given area, following a specific harvesting pattern, so the patient won't suffer from visible scarring (i.e. sum of hypopigmented dots) and/or donor depletion.

With traditional FUE, 60% FU harvesting would most likely cause the aforementioned problems.

 

 

Further details:

 

1 hair FU = approx. 3,3% of the attempted removals (2/60) ; 50% succesful removal rate (1/2 h)

2 hair FU = approx. 73,3% of the attempted removals (44/60) ; 80,7% succesful removal rate (71/88 h)

3 hair FU = 20% of the attempted removals (12/60) ; 75% successful removal rate (27/36 h)

4 hair FU = approx. 3,3% of the attempted removals (2/60) ; 87,5% successful removal rate (7/8 h)

 

total of hairs available in the 60 FU = 134

total of hairs successfully removed = 106

total of hairs transected = 28

 

 

Summary:

 

60% of the Follicular Units available in the test area were harvested, which is twice the amount recommended with traditional FUE (in order to avoid donor depletion or excessive visible scarring); if no donor regeneration would occur in the test area, a lack of hair could definitely be observed at the end of the healing phase. We'll see if that actually occured with our next picture (taken 12 days post-op).

 

Over 134 hairs available for removal's attempt, 106 were successfully harvested, which equals an average successful rate of 79,1%, all FU's types combined.

We will observe the evolution of the transected hairs on the next picture, taken 12 days post-op.

 

With 106 hairs successfully harvested from 52 FU (the other 8 FU - n° 17, 23, 35, 54, 67, 81, 94, 99 - were fully transected and no hair was harvested), the average transplanting ratio is 2,01 h/FU, which relates to the average ratio for traditional follicular units transplants (1,8-2,4 h/FU, with variations below or above this range, depending on the type of recipient area; e.g. lower ratio on the hairline, higher ratio on the posterior parts). Once transplanted, and if the growth rate is good, these grafts should produce regular density, as observed with traditional follicular unit transplants (i.e. FUT & FUE).

 

 

 

12 DAYS POST-OP

 

 

The picture above was taken 12 days after the procedure. Please note that the doctor had to shave again the test area, hence the presence of tiny hair debris all over the area (beware, they could mislead you when trying to identify FU exiting the scalp).

 

 

h = hair(s)

n/a = transected Follicular Unit, no hair was harvested from it

 

 

Reminder: the test area included 100 FU. 60 FU were harvested, and 40 FU were left untouched.

 

Over the 8 fully transected FU containing a total of 16 hairs (n° 17, 23, 35, 54, 67, 81, 94, 99 ; see previous post), 7 FU fully regrew; only 1 fully transected FU showed partial regrowth (n°99, 1/2 hairs). That is because the transection was performed at a very superficial level, and no true damage was inflicted to the FU's structure.

-> 15/16 hairs regrew, which equals a survival rate of 93,75%.

 

 

Details of the 52 FU after their successful removal:

 

- 7 FU (13,5%) didn't regrow in the donor (n° 14, 34, 38, 61, 71, 83, 90) = 0/11 hairs

- 15 FU (28,8%) partially regrew in the donor = 21/36 hairs

- 30 FU (57,7%) fully regrew = 59/59 hairs

 

-> 86,5% of the extracted FU (45/52) did regenerate to various degrees, between 0 and 12 days post-op.

-> 75,5% of the extracted hairs (80/106) did regenerate, between 0 and 12 days post-op.

Edited May 11, 2013 by TakingThePlunge

[Tomislav]

This is extremely interesting and promising. I am surprised nobody has answered this post.

 

It is now 4 years since this post. Is Dr Mousseigne still applying this technique?

[garethbale]

This is because Mathieu posted the same study on TBT forum and disappeared when people were requesting results.

 

I suspect its nothing more than splitting of the donor hair, effectively creating two thinner hairs but not regenerating at all. Much like the procedure Dr Gho employs.